Organizational Change
In any organization, especially in today's increasingly competitiveworld, employees are usually under pressure to complete assigned tasks,meet set objectives and manage the myriad number of small and big crisesthat are common in any workplace environment. To that extent, very rarely,do employees welcome any change to a pattern or system of things that theyhave grown accustomed to and are comfortable with. Add to that, the factthat human nature, by itself, is resistant to change and you have a verygood rationale as to why organizations must plan carefully to introduce anypotential change, no matter how imperative or beneficial. The precedingfacts also imply that Acme Enterprises springing a surprise on itsemployees and asking for literally an overnight switch to CranberryComputer systems is inadvisable and will affect employee morale as well aspossibly negatively impact business processes and productivity. Instead,what Acme Enterprises needs to do is to carefully design, introduce andmanage the proposed switch over to Cranberry Computer Systems, if it is tosuccessfully meet its objective of using the same as a vital aid to the Effective organizational change ma
At this point andbefore proceeding, I would like to acknowledge the role that each and everyAcme employee has played in consistently delivering and improving on a highstandard of performance. nagement is no different to the waybusiness, marketing or customer management plans are developed, involvingas they do much the same principles of: identifying and understanding needgaps or opportunities; developing products, services, systems or processesthat fulfill the need or tap the opportunity; communicating the benefits ofthe changed product, service or system; seeking feedback from the users;and instituting a planned process of implementation that takes into accountfeedback and inputs from all players involved so as to deliversatisfaction. , so too does any planned change in any one aspect ofoperations involve the need to plan for: adequate training in the newsystem; the constitution of a team of change agents who will assist in thetransition, monitoring and reporting of the implementation; a system ofevaluation in order to measure the results in smooth work flow,productivity and other aimed for benefits. If the change process within Acme is to be managed effectively, itmust also take into account that the process will necessarily have tofollow a pattern of unfreezing, change and re-freezing. If these organizational changeprinciples are applied, the earlier discussed transform, reduce and applygoals will automatically emerge. Having outlined the implications of Acme rushing into a proposedchange and suggesting an alternative approach, it is important that theinitial memo proposing the change reflect, in detail, the management'sobjectives and reasons behind the switchover to Cranberry as well as thechange process being planned. Focusgroups comprising of cross-functional members could also play a vital rolein evaluating and resolving workflow issues (Cornell University). As you know, it is critical for us to achieve those goals ifwe are to successfully continue delivering the kind of business resultsthat all our stakeholders have come to expect from us. Implicit in the aforesaidstatement is that Acme must also provide for a method of measurement withpre-defined parameters if it is to be able to quantify any gains from theexpenses of the changeover. It is evident from the processdescribed, thus far, that any change in organizational operations or changeprocess should allow for adequate time and a systematic method. Further, change isalso best accomplished through clearly identifying transform goals ordifferences between the old system and the new, reduce goals to helpeliminate the differences; and apply goals or operators that are used inactually eliminating the differences (Nickols, 2000). To avoid such pitfalls, Acme must allow for adequate time togather feedback on operational and co-ordination issues across functionsand at all levels, followed by thorough training and testing. Accordingly, there is a proposal to switch overfrom the current Dell Computer Systems to Cranberry, which may just be theanswer to Acme achieving quantum leaps in productivity, efficiency andcompetitiveness. And, I promise you it's not going to be allwork, as we will finish the evening with cocktails and dinner.
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